Outrage over anti-immigration leaflet

ANTI-IMMIGRATION leaflets posted in letterboxes in the inner-west have outraged ethnic community leaders and a senior Federal Government official.

The leaflets read: ”600,000 immigrants arrived in the last 4 years. That’s more than Tasmania. More than Aborigines. More than Newcastle. More than we need.”

They are part of a campaign led by an anonymous group identified only by a triangular design in the bottom right corner of the leaflet.

The chairman of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia, Pino Migliorino, questioned the leaflet’s intentions. “It’s really interesting that in the lead-up to Australia Day you get such vagrant behaviour … It’s a day that’s supposed to unite us and it becomes a day that can manipulate.”

Mr Migliorino said the nation’s leaders should stand up for migrants. “The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister need to take the front foot and show they appreciate migration … What we need to do is actively seek to lessen the incidence of racist violence.”

But the parliamentary secretary for Multicultural Affairs, Laurie Ferguson, said the Government supported immigrants. “The Prime Minister recently announced … a belief in Australia having a larger population.”

Mr Ferguson said the information on the leaflet misrepresented the attitudes of Australians.

The chairman of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said Australia Day should be about celebration, not racism. A recent survey by the Scanlan Foundation found 60 per cent of people supported the migration level.

Note:

A story regarding the silly leaflet in question was written by Ebs and published in the Life in Chippendale blog on Monday, January 11.

The leaflet, as noted by Life in Chippendale, is the second in a possible series, the first being distributed in November 2009.

Both leaflets have been distributed in the vicinity of Humanist House, which for the past eight years has hosted meetings of a fascist group. These meetings, conducted under various names and in various guises, were suspended only a few weeks ago, after public protests in October and November, and some turmoil within the group which owns and manages the building: the NSW Humanist Society. While there has been one article (The Sydney Morning Herald, November 15, 2009) in the press about this issue, the real story is the campaign of fascist infiltration of the Society, and the election of a range of colourful characters on to its Committee of Management…

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2019 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.

9 Responses to Outrage over anti-immigration leaflet

I think “in the lead-up to Australia Day” is the key passage: there will be much hand-wringing, a series of article rehashing these and related questions, finger-pointing at the usual suspects, and obscuring of the class dimensions.

(Oh, and congrats on becoming a Humanist. Will you be throwing your White hat into the ring come the AGM? I’m hoping a Spart will challenge.)

I congratulated you on joining the NSW Humanists, and asked if you intended to nominate for a position. You said no: the APP stopped meeting at Humanist House in August 2009. In pointing out that you were welcomed in the Society’s latest newsletter, I was also pointing out that whether or not APP meets at HH has nothing to do with your membership of the Society and hence ability to nominate. Given that Dylon Anderson(?), Ken Cratchley and Mark Pavic were successful candidates, why not Darrin Hodges?

I had no particular interest in participating in the activities of the Humanist Society, it just seemed appropriate to join since we had started using their facilities. However due to activity and behaviour of certain other people, we decided in August to abandon HH in favour of another venue. As a consequence, I’ll not be nominating as a candidate now or any time in the future. Is that clear enough?